


Drifting Thoughts on a Cloud

by InsaneScriptist



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Bel has World Spanning Whims, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Skull is part of the Varia here, Squalo has Deep Thoughts, and then runs into Hibari, but Hibari's behavior is suspicious as fuck compared to other Clouds, he fits in I swear, not the murder aspect but still employed by the Varia, who does not actually feature here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 19:12:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneScriptist/pseuds/InsaneScriptist
Summary: Squalo thinks about Clouds and Harmony and then sends Bel to investigate. Bel is happy to go if only because of sushi.





	Drifting Thoughts on a Cloud

**Author's Note:**

> shroudthecursedone: idea time, I apologize in advance for the inconvenience. What if Skull was Xanxus' cloud guardian but he wasn't an officer, just one of the Varia's best mechanics. Also what if Skull and Mammon were a couple. 
> 
> shadowblayze:Kusakabe is actually a Sky. I am convinced. 
> 
> Izzy combined both prompts here. Originally separate on tumblr.

In all honesty, the fourteen year old version of him probably could have never imagined this back when he had taken the Varia, brought Xanxus to it and then gave himself and the Varia over to his Sky.

Some people would say that’s because fourteen wasn’t fully grown and worldly and all that rot but that’s a lot of screening bullshit that people say. Tact, some people call it. The truth was that teenagers were idiots and Squalo hadn’t been an exception in some regards.

Which might be why his idea of why all of his Sky’s Guardians would be Varia at fourteen didn’t pan out. To be fair, Mammon and Lussuria were career Varia before Squalo joined, Bel became an Officer and his Sky’s crazy whimsical Storm the same day and while Levi wasn’t really one of them, he was still the Varia’s Lightning Officer and no one could find fault with his dedication… except with how he proved it. Levi really wasn’t Xanxus’ Lightning, but was his Lightning Officer and they were used to him.

See, the thing that a lot of those idiots who go on and on about Flame-type and behaviors and so on are observers. Distant observers, dealing with data collected and such. The what and the hows, not the whys or whens and most important -the whos.

Shit’s going to be wrong, but that doesn’t mean it’s not useful if the wrong sort of idea is out there.

It does mean that Mammon’s boy-toy isn’t going to get harassed for Varia secrets or held hostage against Xanxus or something. It could happen for all that Skull was an Arcobaleno and Cloud. People don't seem to get that Skull works for the Varia; excellent at sabotage without looking like he was doing that. Skull had run up quite the bill for Carcassa and their ilk over the years. No one knew where Skull really stayed or worked for.

More to the point, it means that people don’t quite understand that Harmony is about balance. Balancing personalities, interests and so on. With all the crazy in the Officers alone, they really should have at least maimed each other a bit more than scratches and bruises and what marks teeth leave; Squalo’s got a scar or ten on his right arm from Bel’s chompers.

Lussuria tries, but it’s Skull that actually keeps them in touch with the fact that not everyone and everything is criminal and so deserves to be looked at cynical. Mammon might bitch about gas money and ice cream, but is a lot more content after their ‘not-dates.’ Skull calls them ‘drives’ but if they’re not cute little dates, they tend to turn into shopping trips -especially if he’s out alone or with Luss.

It leads to things like Squalo having half his closet being full of things bought for him and having to shift things around in his dresser for things found in thrift-stores and clearance racks that he likes but will never admit to because Skull doesn’t need more encouragement.

It’s not like Skull’s antics are worse than Bel’s and that he didn’t make himself useful. He’s pretty much the Head Mechanic because of all the tweaks and optimizations and rebuilds he’s done on his own vehicles. Experience matters and it’s not like Skull’s an idiot; he can read a manual just fine and he knows what he’s doing because he’s picked up training here and there on practically everything with an engine. Not many people are as comfortable or as confident with jet engines as they are with a car’s.

People are optimists and Skull’s one of the worst of them.

And if in doing so, Skull reminds the Varia that not all of humanity is scum or trash and there’s more to life than money or killing well… there’s worse ways to bring about balance to them all.

It’d be something if Skull was their Cloud Officer, but that’s not likely to happen; Skull’s got a killer instinct but it’s well buried, as it usually was in content or happy Clouds who were enjoying themselves.

Keeping in mind balance and all that, Squalo would hate to see what it took to provoke it the surface since Skull is balancing out the rest of them. Skull wouldn’t be stopped by being killed as it wouldn’t stick so, yeah, that was bound to be nasty.

Huh, maybe he should take a closer look at Sawada’s Cloud; see what’s got that Cloud so violent instead of being a hedonist of select tastes, being the fussy picky shit the once-prefect was.

* * *

 

Squalo’s been wondering what’s had Sawada’s Cloud Guardian and presumed bonded-Cloud tied up in knots so bad and frequently that the bloodlust and viciousness is considered part of his every day personality.

It’s a thought that’s been bugging him, since one slow morning as he watched Skull tinker on some bike in the killing yard and thought that his younger self would have never thought of this being peaceful. Balanced and in Harmony, if a touch incomplete still.

So he told Bel that he could go pester Sawada, the Cloud himself and get some sushi too while he was at it. They had a request for a subtle death near-ish Namimori so Bel wouldn't even have to spring for a flight himself and fly civilian.

Squalo had no hope of actually receiving any of said sushi -Bel would eat it all on the plane to the point of getting sick just to be petty- and expected an eventual and informal report.

Bel picked a fight with him as soon as he stepped into the room some days later.

This was not the teasing, playful fights either but one where Bel was at least half-serious and so Squalo had to pay attention to not get dead.

Outside of Boss, Bel was actually the deadliest of them all able to slaughter his way through masses of people without having to focus on one at a time or having to destroy their minds first.

It didn’t last long, but was enough to prove a point. Squalo got it.

Bel was serious and he sat himself down on the couch seemingly at perfect ease, pulling out one of those cheap juice drinks that didn’t even bother with being in plastic.

“Hibari Kyoya’s appointment as Cloud Guardian to Sawada Tsunayoshi’s Sky is almost entirely political. There’s a low level bond between them but it’s distant if affectionate. Like the stray cat you feed and are fond of but won’t miss too much if it goes missing. The Vongola is lucky that Hibari believes in duty and is less of a free spirit than some other Clouds and is fond of animals.

“I expect that relationship to stay stable, so long as Hibari finds it beneficial to be ‘friendly’ with Sawada Tsunayoshi. I don’t expect that they’ll ever properly Bond on a deep level.

“Hibari Kyoya is already Cloud for another Sky.” Bel finished, smug as could be seen.

“Someone local? Hot for teacher turned into something else?” Because Clouds were easy to understand; their extremes less so.

“It’s his cousin. About four generations out on one side and two on another, branch family within the Hibari clan. The Hibari don’t have a genetic pre- disposition towards certain Flames as far as I could tell.”

“That’s rather obvious when the Storm Arcobaleno’s related and they’re not all Storms.”

“The Prince is speaking,” Bel reminded him; Squalo shut up. “Hibari’s right hand is said cousin who runs and supports things for him.”

Which was slightly odd but cultural values outside the Vongola Alliance could be so. And if this was the clan thing at work, then being subservient made sense.

“Also are you aware that both of them are related to you? They share a Superbi grandmother.”

“I take it she’s dead.” Or else she’s missed the reunion and never brought the idea up intentionally, which attending the family reunion was pretty much the major ‘string’ to being part of the Superbi. Some people did leave, because of whatever reason but most didn’t even if they were so remotely related because that meant loosing the connection and all that came with it, if they ever needed it. 

“Very dead, but lots of people ended up as such during the second World War. Makes travel difficult, ushishishishi.”

Well that explained a lot of things. Certain branches branches of his relatives did wander far and wide and not all survived the wandering.

“I’ll have to visit before Sawada’s Cloud makes his and too many animal references to be missed.” Superbi naming traditions having the unintentional effect of making animal references a very Superbi-thing. “And I’ll tell him why he shouldn’t bring his cousin and let him decide if he would.”

“Isn’t a Sky in the bloodline a good thing ushishishi?”

“Only if you care about prestige more than profit. And didn’t care about your relatives at all, since you’re putting a target on them. Best to keep them out of sight of idiots who think being a Sky is akin to royalty." Being a Sky meant being the weak link between a group of people; if the Sky wasn't strong enough, smart enough... they'd take down the whole chain of command with them. Boss didn't have that issue but others? Some Skies were just trash. Boss was Quality.

“The shark's family is full of clever peasants.” Bel complimented.

“Clever pirates," Squalo corrected. "Going by history, the Superbi became mafia for love and profit. And because we were getting dreadfully pedestrian with the death of piracy in the Mediterranean.”

And that got Bel to laugh and not just giggle like the crazy person he was.


End file.
